Cardinal come out strong

Notes: Alexander becomes blocks leader; Rodgers sets record

• For the first time since the final Associated Press poll of 2005, Stanford is ranked No. 1. The Cardinal took the top spot from Baylor after ending the Lady Bears' 42-game winning streak at the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic last Friday. Stanford barely edged Connecticut for the top spot in the latest poll. Stanford received 21 first-place votes, while Connecticut had 17. Stanford will host Connecticut on Dec. 29 in Palo Alto, Calif.

• Andy Landers became the seventh Division I women's coach to reach 800 career victories when No. 8 Georgia beat Savannah State 94-57 on Tuesday night. He became the eighth basketball coach – men's or women's – with 800 victories at a single Division I school.. Ironically, Landers posted his 800th overall career win (including 82 victories at Roane State from 1975-79) with a 74-28 decision against Savannah State on Jan. 15, 2009. Landers is in his 34th year at Georgia.

• Northern Iowa senior guard Jacqui Kalin moved up to No. 3 on the schools all-time scoring list with 1,477 points. Kalin, who was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, had 15 points in a win against South Dakota, followed by a 26-point outing in a win against North Dakota State.

Central Arkansas' Megan Herbert

UCA

• Central Arkansas senior forward Megan Herbert recorded her 68th double-double, which is tied for ninth most by a Division I player, and she moved to ninth in scoring, sixth in rebounding and third in free throws made in Southland Conference (SLC) history during the weekend. Herbert was named SLC Player of the Week after averaging 19 points and 19.5 rebounds in a pair of road wins against Southern Illinois and Alcorn State. She had a career-high 24 rebounds to go along with 32 points in the win against Southern Illinois.

• Rutgers senior Monique Oliver posted her first double-double with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds in a 56-52 win against George Washington. Oliver swatted her 148th career block, moving her into a tie for fifth all-time at Rutgers with former Scarlet Knight Tammy Sutton-Brown (1997-2001). Tanya Hansen is above Oliver in fourth all-time on the Scarlet Knights’ blocks list with 245 career rejections.

• Georgetown senior shooting guard Sugar Rodgers made history in the 63-48 loss to North Carolina on Nov. 14, becoming the program’s all-time scoring leader. Rodgers hit a free throw which gave her 1,886 career points making her the program’s all-time scoring leader in just 101 games played. After the set back against North Carolina, Rodgers and the Hoyas bounced back to defeat LSU 71-69 on Nov. 19.

• Syracuse’s Kayla Alexander became the all-time blocks leader in program history. She also had a 26-point, 13-rebound performance at Cornell on Nov. 16, becoming the fifth player in program history to reach 1,500 career points.

• Southeastern Conference teams have a 34-10 overall record in all games this season, but are only 2-4 against top-25 teams.

• LSU is two victories away from becoming the fourth team in SEC history to claim 800 all-time victories.

• With Stanford off to a 5-0 start, several other undefeated Pac-12 Conference teams are currently flying under the radar. Worth noting are Arizona, California and Utah all at 3-0, while Colorado and UCLA are both 2-0.

This week on the court
• Numerous teams across the country will celebrate the Thanksgiving holidays while participating in tournaments. The Dayton Flyers, out of the gate with a 4-0 record, will host the Marriott Classic this weekend with games against Buffalo and Eastern Illinois. The Flyers have opened the season strong with two of the wins coming against top-25 teams in DePaul and Vanderbilt.

• Minnesota (4-0) will look to maintain its strong early start, with three games this week against Richmond (Nov. 22), James Madison (Nov. 23) and Missouri (Nov. 24).

• After three wins to open the season, the Northwestern Wildcats will be at home this week to play Yale on Nov. 21. The Wildcats then wrap up the week on Sunday, Nov. 25, hosting the team’s annual Autism Awareness Game at 2 p.m. against Loyola.

• Also off to a 4-0 start, the North Carolina Tar Heels will host Ohio State on November 28 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3.